William h



(No Model.)

W. H. BENFORD.

SHOE FASTENING.

No. 562,114. Patented June 16, 1896.

Nirnn STATES ,PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM H. BENFORD, OF LAMAR, MISSOURI, -ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO WILLIAM L. GRIFFIN, OF SAME PLACE.

SHOE-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,1 14, dated June 16, 1896.

Application filed August 13,1895. Serial No. 559,176. (No model.) l

in the county of Barton and State of Missouri,`

have invented a new and useful Fastening Device for Shoes, rbc., of which the following isa specification.

The invention relates to improvements in fastening devices for shoes, dac.

1o The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive shoe-fastener adapted to be readily applied to shoes provided with the usual eyelets and capable of elastically connecting the two sides of the upper of a shoe to enable the shoe to yield readily to the movements of the foot of the wearer similar to a gaiter.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a device which will also be capable 2o of use on corsets and the like, having opposite edges or portions provided with eyelets.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated 2 5 in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe provided with fastening devices constructed in accordance with this in- 3o vention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the shoe, taken longitudinally of the eyelets and illustrating` the arrangement of the fastening devices. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the shoe-fasteners.

3 5 Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures of the drawings.

l designates a shoe provided at both sides of the front of the upper with eyelets 2 ofthe 4o ordinary construction. The eyelets at one side of the upper receive a series of fastening devices comprising elastic bands 3 and hooks 4, and the latter are adapted to engage the eyelets of the other side of the upper,

whereby the shoe is elastically fastened at the front and is adapted to yield to the movements of the foot of the wearer similar to a gaiter.

The elastic band 3 may consist solely of rub- 5o ber or be constructed of rubber and other material to increase its durability, and it has its end portions passed through two adjacent eyelets from the inner face of the upper to form eXteriorly-projecting loops 5 to be engaged by the hooks 4. AThe shoe may be provided with any number of eyelets, and any number of elastic bands may be employed, two eyelets being provided for each elastic band.

Each hook is constructed of a single piece 6o of Wire or other suitable material. The strip of wire is doubled intermediate of its ends to form a loop 6, which is linked into the exterior loop at one end of the band, and the terminals of the sides of the piece of wire are bent to form a hook for engaging an eyelet at the opposite side of the shoe.

The fastening device is also applicable to corsets and analogous articles having opposite edges or portions provided with eyelets, 7o and it may be used in a variety of places where an elastic connection is desirable.

It will be seen that the shoe-fastener is eze ceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is capable of being applied to ordinarylace-shoes to enable them to yield to the foot of the wearer similar to a gaiter, and that a shoe provided with these devices may be quickly fastened and unfastened.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the Se minor details ofy construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, such as arranging the elastic bands alternately at one side of the shoe and then at the other to arrange the hooks at both sides of the shoe.

lVhat I claim is- 1. A shoe or analogous article provided at opposite sides with eyes, and having fasten- 9o ing devices, comprising a continuous elastic band passed through the eyes from the inte rior of one side to form exterior projecting loops, and hooks provided with loops linked into those of the band, said hooks being adapted to engage the eyes of the opposite side, substantially as described.

2. A slice or analogous article, having op posite eyes and provided with fastening devices, each comprising a continuous elastic roe band passed through two of the eyelets at one side from the interior thereof to form projecting exteriorloops, andhooks `having loops at the' inner ends of their Shanks linked into the loops formed by the band, said hooks being adapted to engage the eyes at the op 5 posite side, substantially as described.

3. Afastening deviccffol- `shoes and the like, comprising un elastic band interlaced through the eyes at one side'of a shoe, orthe like, to form the projecting loops, and hooks 1o connected with the loops of the `band and adapted to'engege eyesvof the other side of the shoe, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature iu the presence of tWo Witnesses.

PARRISH C. VEEKS, (l1-IAS. H. BRoNsoN. 

